GHANA

Although Ghana is now considered a middle income country, northern Ghana continues to experience cumulative and increasing poverty. Climate change takes a toll on agricultural livelihoods — the main income for 85% of northern Ghana’s farming families — leaving families and children without adequate food, access to basic necessities, or a path to prosperity.

The Challenges

FACING GHANA

FOOD INSECURITY

Poverty is on the rise as more families, 85% of whom rely on agriculture, are unable to meet their basic needs. Women struggle the most as their access to good land is restricted and they lack the means to participate fully in agricultural activities.

LOW QUALITY
EDUCATION

Lack of infrastructure such as new schools, classrooms, and teaching materials, and challenges recruiting qualified teachers, prevent many Ghanaian children from getting a quality education. Most adults in northern Ghana have no formal education and lack literacy and numeracy skills to help their children or to fully develop their economic potential.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Increases in temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and ongoing soil erosion is expected for Ghana’s northern regions over the next 15 years, increasing already high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition among Ghana’s poor, rural farm families and their children.

Our response

TO GHANA’S CHALLENGES

SUSTAINABLE
AGRICULTURE

Training in climate adapted agriculture systems, tools, and technologies such as contour plowing and use of climate adapted seeds are building resilience and agricultural productivity so that Ghana’s smallholder farmers can earn a better living from the land. Initiatives include cascading training from agricultural experts to community-based agricultural extension volunteers and on to farmers though the use of demonstration plots and farmer field days.

WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

When women are fully integrated into agricultural activities, given access to training, and involved in leadership and decision-making structures, children, families and communities thrive. We empower women to participate in and lead their own and their communities’ agricultural and non-agricultural development activities.

INCOME GENERATION

CFTC’s partners support agricultural and non-agricultural income-generating initiatives including basket weaving, soap, peanut oil and shea butter making groups and bee keepers. In addition to establishing a solid foundation for increased rural agricultural and non-agricultural incomes, we support village savings and loans associations. These increase food security by ensuring that parents earn enough money to supplement food they can grow, and are able to save money and secure small loans to meet any crisis that arises without having to resort to selling capital assets. They also connect communities with networks of local, district and regional government, academic, technical and market supports, creating sustainable economic development.

CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

Northern Ghana lacks some of the basics for quality education to be available to its children: infrastructure, teachers, and solid governance for primary schools. We support teacher recruitment and training, assist in infrastructure development (schools, classrooms, water and sanitation facilities, educational and teaching and learning materials and equipment) to provide Ghana’s children with safe spaces to learn and grow. In the past year, four community schools (1,208 pupils, 48% girls) received support including teaching & learning materials, and recreational equipment. A group of students participated in a trip to a Science Resource Centre. Further, 102 adults including teachers, parents, school management committee members, and circuit supervisors received support to enhance school management and governance.

RESULT

Through training in climate-smart agriculture, the Resilient and Sustainable Livelihoods Transformation (RESULT) project is strengthening poor rural communities in the Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana. RESULT is increasing and diversifying what is produced on farms, building on existing sources of income, and establishing new income opportunities. Families are becoming more resilient to climate change, accessing better prices for their crops, and women are empowering themselves.

The results

We are achieving together

In the last year Ghana’s smallholder farmers have received agricultural inputs, training, access to credit, community extension supports, weather forecasting and a wide range of other climate-smart agricultural supports. In the past year:

271 Village Saving and Loan Groups are in operation with over 5,500 members.

Our Partners

DELIVERING COMMUNITY-LED RESULTS

CFTC delivers impact by selecting, monitoring, evaluating and building the capacity of local partners.
Our local partners work within Ghanaian communities to drive change:

REGIONAL ADVISORY INFORMATION & NETWORK SYSTEMS (RAINS)

RAINS works in Ghana’s Northern Region, supporting productive livelihoods, access to education, and climate-smart agriculture by providing grassroots capacity-building in the sustainable use and management of natural resources.

TRADE AID INTEGRATED (TAI)

TAI seeks to help the productive poor to create and manage viable ventures for sustained poverty reduction and wealth creation. Based in the Upper East Region, TradeAID is involved in promoting sustainable rural livelihoods, helping to strengthen off-farm alternative livelihoods and climate-smart farming activities.

THE ASSOCIATION OF CHURCH-BASED DEVELOPMENT NGOS (ACDEP)

The Association of Church-based Development NGOs (ACDEP) is a network of over 40 largely church-based development NGOs in northern Ghana engaged in the fields of agricultural development, micro-finance, rural enterprise development for women’s groups and value chains / market access, among other areas. Its primary focus is the socio-economic development of northern Ghana as a whole and the rural poor in particular. Through these programs, ACDEP works with rural communities to improve livelihoods, household food security, good health and poverty reduction in northern Ghana.

We did not know that a woman could participate in farming activities, but the [CHANGE] project has educated us. We’ve been encouraged to cultivate crops that meet the dietary needs of our communities. I cultivated yellow maize and Bambara beans last year.FAIRUZA SULEMANA, FARMER AND CHANGE PROJECT PARTICIPANT